UAE freezes 'Desi Bling' star Satish Sanpal's assets over money laundering probe

Mumbai: The UAE anti-money laundering agency Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is understood to have asked banks, financial institutions, and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in the Emirates to put a temporary freeze on the accounts of Satish Sanpal, the 41-year-old Dubai-based Indian-origin businessman who stars in the Netflix docusoap series 'Desi Bling' that shows the lavish lifestyle of Sanpal and his wife Tabinda.

Besides the financial services accounts and digital wallets of Satish, the FIU freezing order, issued about a fortnight ago, extends to accounts of Tabinda and companies linked to Sanpals.

"...you are immediately requested to freeze any funds or accounts or deposits or investments and deny access to the safe deposit boxes, and stop any financial transfers or withdrawals and inform us of any credit facilities belonging to the below mentioned names.." said the FIU communique.

The business entities covered in the notice are ANAX Capital Asset Management Company, ANAX Capital Financial Markets LLC, ANAX Holding FZCO, and SSB Bazaar General Trading LLC. SSB, which is said to deal in precious stones, was formed in 2015, and the other three entities were incorporated between 2023 and 2024.

Once the freeze is executed and Sanpals are informed about the FIU directive, financial institutions and VASPs have to ask the account owners to provide documents that prove transaction legitimacy and lawful origin of funds.

The inclusion of VASPs in the notice assumes significance given the legal acceptance and wide use of cryptocurrencies in UAE -- covering even transactions like property deals. VASPs include crypto exchanges, wallet providers, and entities offering trading, transferring, or digital asset safekeeping.

The banks and VASPs will have to cancel the freeze after 30 days from the receipt of the notice if they do not receive any instruction from FIU to extend the freeze.

Under UAE anti-money laundering legislation and recent frameworks like UAE FIU Regulation No (1) of 2026, financial institutions as well as VASPs are designated "reporting entities" obligated to share information and comply with FIU orders.

A school dropout from Jabalpur who claims to have made big in Dubai, Sanpal has till now denied various media allegations about his activities and transactions. In May the Delhi High Court had said that media had "prematurely labelled" him as a culprit though the official investigation was not over.

Sanpal could not be contacted for the story. ET's email and messages on his social media accounts did not elicit any response till the time of going to Press. It could not be determined whether he was in UAE.

Interestingly, in the FIU notice, Satish's nationality is mentioned as Vanuatu - a South Pacific island nation that in the last few years has emerged as the quickest and cheapest route to switch citizenship and grab a new passport. Tabinda, 39, however, has a UK nationality, according to the notice.

The nature of the information that the FIU may be possessing is not known, and under the UAE law, extending the freezing order beyond 30 days require an explicit order from the Attorney General. The need to wait for information from other jurisdictions and foreign FIUs can be cited as one of the reasons for extension.

However, during the 30 days which ends around mid-August, banks and VSPs can only allow deposit of funds in any form (cash, money transfers, cheques etc) without letting any withdrawal or transfer. Indeed, withdrawal of cryptocurrencies and moving them to private wallets held in other countries is often seen as an easy may to move money across borders, bypassing banking channels.